Tuesday, June 05, 2007

The Final of a Thousand Faces

I've discovered the joy of the take-home final exam. It's like telecommuting: my students don't have to show up at any scheduled time, and I don't have to make the trip to campus. I'll definitely have to do this more often.

In one of those "why-didn't-I-think-of-that" moments, I recently heard of an interesting compromise: a "take-home" final that is posted online at a specific time, and must be turned in within 2 hours. Essentially, this contains the time pressure of a standard exam, but without everyone having to be in one place. I suppose it makes it tougher to police cheating... except that I prefer essay questions anyway, which are really hard to copy without the cheating being obvious (especially if the test is timed).

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